WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.320 Now, can we turn back to Matthew's Gospel? 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:11.599 In our morning services for quite a long time, now we've been, we're taking a slow walk 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:12.599 through Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:15.759 It's a very important Gospel. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:19.920 It's one of the four Gospels that tell us about the life of Jesus, and it was written 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:25.960 by one of his disciples who was Jewish, and he was writing primarily in the first instance 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:28.560 to a Jewish audience. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:32.600 And we've been working our way through Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:38.719 The chapter 16 that Rowan read from earlier, or the section of chapter 16, really is part 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:46.759 of a section, because you remember there wasn't chapter divisions originally, that really 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:53.519 we find from verse 15 onwards, 14, 15 and 16, sorry. 00:00:53.519 --> 00:00:55.799 And it's all kind of interrelated. 00:00:55.799 --> 00:01:05.399 So I'm going to dip back into something which is connected, I believe, to what we're looking 00:01:05.399 --> 00:01:06.899 at today. 00:01:06.899 --> 00:01:12.400 And I was speaking to Rowan there just after she'd spoken, after she'd read, and she was 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.879 saying it was Jonah that she had interviewed, which is very interesting, because Jonah does 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:18.799 make us think. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:25.959 And Jonah was mentioned in last week's reading in chapter, the earlier part of chapter 16, 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:31.200 where the Pharisees and the Sadducees demanded a sign, and Jesus said none would be given 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:33.079 them except a sign of Jonah. 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:39.879 Now it's interesting, Jonah was a man of an Old Testament prophet, but he's not a particularly 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:42.920 likable character given to us in the Old Testament. 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:47.519 He seems to be pretty selfish, as if he's in a sense a reluctant believer. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:50.719 He's grumpy about God's mercy and grace. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:56.319 He's disobedient, he tries to run away as you no doubt heard. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:58.640 He ended up being suicidal. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.319 The Ninevites, he thought, didn't deserve grace. 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:06.840 God was too compassionate, and he was angry, and he was angry inside. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:11.840 And even the miracle of his, in very commiss, his resurrection having been in the whale 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.159 of the fish for three days, didn't really change his heart. 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:22.159 He was still a reluctant messenger, and it seems that he didn't really understand God 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:28.439 terribly well, or maybe he did understand God better than we think, but he didn't necessarily 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:30.560 understand himself. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:36.800 And we find in that same story, the pagan soldiers that were going to sail to Tarshish, 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:39.800 they were kind of spiritually sensitive. 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.879 They didn't want to harm him. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.879 They prayed to God for mercy and for help. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:51.280 There was a spiritual insightfulness there. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:58.120 And the Ninevites themselves, this pagan, wild, evil, even according to God's verdict, 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:02.120 a wild people, they responded. 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:09.359 And you know, it's the worst sermon ever, really, Jonah's sermon in what he says. 00:03:09.359 --> 00:03:12.859 He just says, 40 days more, and you're going to be destroyed. 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:18.800 And you do wonder if his doer, ex-blanation or proclamation was because he didn't really 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:21.440 want the people to repent. 00:03:21.440 --> 00:03:25.360 Maybe that was it, but you've got no excuse if you hear a really rubbish sermon, because 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:30.360 God even used that to turn the people to himself. 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:34.600 And even then, Jonah's response was anger. 00:03:34.600 --> 00:03:39.360 He did know about God's grace and the depth of God's grace, and he did have the wrong 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.560 priorities, so he was more concerned about this vine that grew up and that shriveled 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:47.040 away and gave him shade. 00:03:47.040 --> 00:03:50.800 So much so that even after that, he would say, my life's not worth living. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:52.280 It's sad, isn't it? 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:58.720 It's sad how wrong his priorities could be, how negative he could be about grace, how 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:04.920 little he could think about God, and the people of Nineveh who needed to be saved. 00:04:04.920 --> 00:04:07.480 And it does make us think. 00:04:07.480 --> 00:04:08.480 It does make us think. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:14.439 I know that previously when we talked about that sign of Jonah, that we looked at it very 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:19.920 much in relation to the death of Jesus and the resurrection, the connection between the 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:23.480 three days, and that's absolutely valid and important. 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:29.120 But it's maybe broader than that when we come into this section of the passage of Matthew 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:30.639 16 as well. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:36.800 Because possibly today, you're finding the walk of faith equally tough, maybe as tough 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.040 as Jonah was finding it. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.639 And maybe today you're thinking it would be so much easier not to believe. 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:49.879 It'd be so much easier to just be like everyone else and suppress that truth, to be easy on 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:57.840 our sinful selves and find it much easier just to love things rather than love God and 00:04:57.840 --> 00:04:58.840 love other people. 00:04:58.840 --> 00:05:02.639 You know, grace and compassion, maybe if you're a Christian today, you're thinking grace 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:03.639 and compassion. 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:07.800 And it is great, but it's so demanding. 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:17.399 It's so tiring to know what I am like and to know that I need God to help me change and 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:19.199 to be forgiven. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:26.759 And sometimes we almost want God to be the judge of other people and of the evil that 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:29.039 we see around us. 00:05:29.039 --> 00:05:32.800 And we find mercy is just too much of a leveler. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.800 He just levels us all out. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:37.120 And we find that really difficult. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:40.319 Or maybe it's just that you're battling as well. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:45.560 I think Jonah battled a little bit with who he was. 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:50.600 It must have been difficult not bringing God's message and being unpopular as often the Old 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:55.800 Testament prophets were, because we put so much store by our popularity and the way we 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:57.720 were liked by other people. 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:01.560 Maybe he sometimes thought God wasn't really that interested in him or didn't care about 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:02.800 him at some level. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:04.959 I'm not sure. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:09.319 And he wondered about his own identity, not loved by his own people because of the message, 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:14.519 not wanting to go in the inivian and speak to them because he knew that they would potentially 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:19.959 reject him and he didn't know what would happen. 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:24.040 So maybe there was a sense in which there was an identity struggle for him as well. 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.759 And maybe you find that in a different way. 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:28.759 Who is interested? 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:30.160 Who cares? 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:31.640 Does God care? 00:06:31.640 --> 00:06:32.640 Do other people care? 00:06:32.640 --> 00:06:33.640 Does the church care? 00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:40.160 Well, I do actually believe that this passage, that God speaks from this passage into all 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:42.240 of this. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:49.440 And this particular issue, this particular section speaks very powerfully into it. 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:55.240 And so, sorry, my mic is bugging me here, but it's okay. 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:58.240 I think it's okay now. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:05.600 We look for God in this passage to speak to us because it's a really powerful section. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:10.480 There's a connecting theme right through chapters 14 to 16. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:17.040 And here in the passage that Rowan read, we find that Peter makes his great confession 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:23.360 of Jesus and veils Jesus a little bit after the woman, the Kedanite woman who also knew 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:25.920 who Jesus was. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:32.759 While having made that great confession, then Jesus goes on to speak about his crucifixion 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:36.480 and his need to be raised again on the third day. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:39.600 So what I want to do, now, I'm sure you'll be disappointed with me. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.800 I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Peter's confession of Jesus. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:47.480 I'm going to spend most of my time looking at the last section from verse 24, but taking 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:51.480 up your cross and following Jesus and what Jesus says there. 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:58.680 Because what Jesus says there reveals how much he knows about us or how much he knows 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:01.920 about people, you and me. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:07.600 And I think that's very important as we consider the gospel message. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:12.840 So the first thing I want to say is that he knows our instinct. 00:08:12.840 --> 00:08:15.120 He knows our instinct as people as human beings. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.319 In verse 25, he says, whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:22.519 Whoever loses life for my sake will find it. 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:23.599 Whoever will save his life. 00:08:23.599 --> 00:08:30.719 So he knows that we have an instinct as human beings, as individuals for self-preservation. 00:08:30.719 --> 00:08:34.039 He knows that we want to save our lives. 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:35.799 Every single one of us wants to do that. 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:38.200 You want to do that and I want to do that. 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:40.840 Life matters to us. 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:47.480 There's something very, very wrong in our thinking and in our mental condition and maybe 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:50.120 our physical condition if we don't want to live. 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:51.360 Isn't that right? 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:56.960 Generally speaking, we instinctively recoil from death. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:59.960 We resist aging. 00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:04.879 We are horrified when somebody, and rightly so, dies when they are young. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:07.720 We want to keep fit. 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:09.000 We do our level best. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:10.759 We avoid danger. 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:13.480 We do things that will preserve our lives. 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:21.440 We shield a time like this, a time of pandemic, because we have this life instinct within us 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.600 that we want to preserve our lives. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.840 And Jesus knows that and Jesus speaks into that and there's nothing wrong with that. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:30.519 It's absolutely right that we should do so. 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:35.159 He knows that instinct within us that we want to save our life. 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:42.759 And within that, there's the knowledge that our lives are in danger. 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:48.319 He also knows what or who we are. 00:09:48.319 --> 00:09:54.080 In verse 26, he says that great verse, for what will it profit a man, a person if he gains 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.319 the whole world and four feet or loses his soul? 00:09:57.319 --> 00:09:59.960 He loses his soul. 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:09.200 And the soul is a very important image and a very important word and concept in the Bible. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:18.800 Interestingly, in the earlier verses where he talks about life, he uses the word life 00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:23.840 and then he talks about soul and he uses the word soul, but it's the same word. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:29.960 And he's reminding us that what makes up our life is more than just our physical, material 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:32.320 bodies. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:34.320 Our soul is part of that. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:37.800 And the soul, biblically, is very important. 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:42.039 It just defines us as more than just a body, more than just physical. 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:51.479 We've got this unique, invisible and cooperative essence of personhood where our body and our 00:10:51.479 --> 00:11:01.000 soul are fused together, where our soul are being really partners with our brain and our 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:07.519 body to make us who we are, our spirit. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:16.960 That femoral part of us that enables us to worship and to… that is made to be in relationship 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:19.360 with God and with one another. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:29.919 I mean, it's a widely defined concept, but it would include image bearing of God. 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:37.079 It would include our consciousness, self-consciousness, our desire and our ability and our need to 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:47.520 worship, our moralities, our will, our self, our ego, our ability to have an emotional life, 00:11:47.520 --> 00:11:48.520 creativity. 00:11:48.520 --> 00:11:55.280 What is it that makes you, you, your psyche, our love for music, for art, for dignity, for 00:11:55.280 --> 00:12:01.759 sacrificial love, for exploration, for invention and our quest for meaning. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:09.480 It all is tied up with who we are as souls, not just bodies. 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:20.600 And the Bible makes clear, and Jesus is speaking under the radar here about our souls being 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:30.480 immortal, being eternal, being souls that never die beyond merely physical death. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.360 They are never dying, they're never dying part of us. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:37.279 And the Bible speaks a lot about body and soul being together, but also body and soul 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:44.920 being divided and separated in death, but the soul goes on to live beyond death. 00:12:44.920 --> 00:12:49.639 So he knows who we are, and he knows that's an integral part of who we are and what we 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:58.560 are, and therefore he's going to speak into that through his word and through his work. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:04.159 And because he explains who we are, and that speaks to all of us, about all of us, he knows 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:06.159 our true value. 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:12.239 Again verse 26, for what does a prophet man if he gains the whole world and loses his 00:13:12.239 --> 00:13:14.399 soul? 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:23.359 And so there's this way in which Jesus is explaining who we are, and our value, our 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:35.560 incomparable worth, that suppose we gain, we can't give anything in exchange for our 00:13:35.560 --> 00:13:38.600 soul living eternally with him. 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:49.120 There's nothing we can do to enable our souls not to die, or our life not to be cursed by 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:53.519 sin and not to be separated in death, soul and body. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:14:02.000 And if we don't come to terms with who Jesus is and what God made us to do, there's nothing 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:04.720 that can make up for that. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:11.519 There's nothing that can heal our souls and make it right with God, because he says there's 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:19.639 nothing in this material universe that can enable us to live body and soul eternally, 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:22.120 because of sin and because of death. 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:27.000 And that each individual person is worth more than the whole cosmos. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.360 The word there for the world is the cosmos. 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:37.480 So basically what he's saying, if you give up your, if you forfeit your soul, which is 00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:42.519 that spiritual part of our lives that is broken and needs to be healed by Jesus Christ, if 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:47.920 we forget and ignore that and simply live for this world, for knowledge, for power, 00:14:47.920 --> 00:14:54.879 for wealth, or for influence, or whatever it might be, then we are forfeiting something 00:14:54.879 --> 00:15:01.120 that we can never get back and that is much more valuable than anything that we can achieve 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:06.879 or do or any relationship that we can have in this life, or anything that we focus our 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:09.039 life on. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:10.039 It is worthless. 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:15.960 Now there's a guy just now who owns Amazon and he's called Jeff Bezos and he's worth 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:19.799 $185 billion, roughly. 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:22.480 The record is going to be the first trillionaire. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:30.960 But that is meaningless because my soul is more valuable than that and so is his, because 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.399 it's the wrong currency. 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:35.639 We can't buy our souls health. 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:41.120 We can't buy our souls eternal life with Jesus Christ and God in heaven because of 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.120 sin. 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:43.879 We can't put it right ourselves. 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:47.639 Death is too great for us to deal with. 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:53.519 And many people just ignore that reality and think life is simply about pursuing material 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:56.600 happiness. 00:15:56.600 --> 00:16:03.360 Even if we could gain the whole cosmos, it wouldn't change who you are and it wouldn't 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:09.639 change who I am and it wouldn't give us our identity, which is meant to be with God, but 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:12.759 sin separates from that. 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:21.080 None of these things can enable our souls to be healthy and forgiven and right with God 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:25.240 because sin forfeits the life of our soul. 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:28.320 The material world just can't cut it. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:34.040 Now, I was out yesterday in the West Coast of Scotland that glorious day on a boat, a 00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:42.800 fast boat, going round all the islands, glorious weather, glorious scenery, lots of beautiful 00:16:42.800 --> 00:16:48.200 seafood, great company. 00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:52.960 Is it worth having that for a day and forefitting your soul? 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:59.759 Is it worth pursuing anything, however glorious, any relationship, however deep and meaningful, 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.559 any wealth, any possessions, and yet ignore God? 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:09.660 Do all these things with no reference to God, without thanksgiving to God, without recognizing 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:11.160 your need for God? 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:19.840 It is utterly and completely worthless because your soul is worth more than all of these things. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:26.559 And the amazing thing is, if we get our souls healed and right with God, our lives, our 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.799 being, our whole relationship, if we get that right with God through Jesus Christ, which 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:37.240 we'll go into look at in a moment, then all these things will be ours. 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:43.119 In eternity, in the new heavens and the new earth, we will have what is our best experience 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:52.839 here now multiplied a million times with Jesus Christ in the eternity that He gives us, and 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:56.199 for which we are eternally grateful. 00:17:56.199 --> 00:17:57.759 So He knows our true value. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:04.119 And of course, He knows, as I've mentioned, that something is wrong because our souls 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:06.839 are and can be forfeited. 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.119 We know we can lose our life. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.959 We know that death is there. 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:16.640 But the Bible recognizes that we also lose and can lose our souls. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:20.440 It's the same word, and there's frustration, isn't there? 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:25.920 There's frustration in that, that we have a body and a soul, and in death, body and soul 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.240 is separated. 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:36.720 And we recognize, and many people recognize, and maybe many people who have the most materially 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:44.960 and relationally in this life also may sometimes recognize it's dissatisfying. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:52.680 It is not great because we are fragile and because we grow old and because we can't keep 00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:53.680 any of it. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.200 We can't keep any of it ultimately. 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:58.200 That's a brutal reality. 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:03.079 There's a deep absurdity in life. 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:07.039 And there's things that are beyond our control, there's physical and mental illness, there's 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.359 aging, there's self-destruction, there's emptiness, there's dissatisfaction, there's 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:16.839 unfulfilled longings, there's broken dreams. 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:22.240 And this world of which we're apart, with all its guilt and shame, reminds us that it 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:25.159 can never be all that we had hoped for. 00:19:25.159 --> 00:19:29.399 And maybe you have many broken dreams today. 00:19:29.399 --> 00:19:30.759 So He knows our instinct. 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:32.279 He knows who we are. 00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.279 He knows our true value. 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:36.680 He knows that something is wrong. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:42.079 And He knows there's only one answer. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:49.519 Verse 21 is a change in the mentality of Jesus with the disciples and with what He says. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:54.759 He says, then He says to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:57.240 up his cross and follow me. 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:02.720 For whoever would lose his life, save his life, whoever loses his life for my sake will 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.000 find it. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:13.539 So Jesus begins very deliberately to speak about the cross, right after Peter's great 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:15.839 confession of him. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:21.359 And there's an exchange that is going to happen at the cross that Jesus is pointing towards 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:29.599 here, and He's reminding us that there's only one way to receive eternal life. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:34.279 God requires our bodily and soul perfection. 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:39.039 And nothing in this cosmos can give us that right relationship with God. 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:42.119 Nothing can make us right with God. 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:46.079 And Peter's confession says, oh, you're the Christ. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.079 You're the Messiah. 00:20:47.079 --> 00:20:48.079 You're the Savior. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.559 You're the Son of the living God. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:55.159 And that is pointing to, and what Jesus is then pointing to is His death and resurrection, 00:20:55.159 --> 00:21:01.000 His death on the cross and His resurrection is the only answer to our soul's need, that 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:06.319 His perfect life is exchanged for our sinful life. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:12.279 And He takes the death we deserve on the cross and the wrath of God against our sin and against 00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:14.319 the brokenness that we have. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.159 And He pays the price. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:22.080 Now, I know if you've been a Christian for many years, you know this back to front. 00:21:22.080 --> 00:21:30.940 But nothing proves the value of your life more than the gospel and what Jesus Christ 00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:31.940 did for you. 00:21:31.940 --> 00:21:35.519 Are you concerned about your worth as a person? 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:38.600 Are you concerned about your value? 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:46.399 Nothing says you're valuable more than the exchange that Jesus worked on the cross for 00:21:46.399 --> 00:21:50.079 anyone who will come to Him by faith. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.199 Jesus says, I love you. 00:21:53.199 --> 00:21:57.679 And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. 00:21:57.679 --> 00:22:02.639 That's why really Sunday night and what we're doing with the evangelistic videos is so important 00:22:02.639 --> 00:22:08.559 as we seek to reach out to a different and a new audience with that gospel message. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:17.559 Nothing can say that you matter more as a Christian than when you consider the price, 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:24.440 the cost of your salvation, the price that Jesus Christ paid to set you free. 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:26.159 It's at the heart of the whole Bible. 00:22:26.159 --> 00:22:28.200 It's at the heart of the gospel. 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:32.240 It was at the heart of even what happened in Jonah and the Old Testament and the prophecies 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:37.279 of the Old Testament that were pointing forward to death and resurrection. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:39.480 It's the reason for Jesus coming. 00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:45.200 As Christians today, we can never be ashamed of the cross and we can never think the cross. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:46.920 We graduate beyond it. 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:54.879 Jesus says here, He is the one who, verse 21, from that time, Jesus began to show His 00:22:54.879 --> 00:23:04.279 disciples He must go to Jerusalem and suffer and be killed and on the third day be raised. 00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:10.639 There's an imperative about the life of Jesus that is driving Him towards Jerusalem and 00:23:10.639 --> 00:23:14.160 the crucifixion. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:18.359 He had your life in mind when He said, I must go. 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:20.119 He had my life in mind. 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:22.039 He had every believer's life in mind. 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:26.359 He had everyone in the world's life in mind when He said, I must go to the cross. 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:33.839 This is the only way that humanity will not forfeit their souls and lose their souls in 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.399 the pursuit of merely material living. 00:23:37.399 --> 00:23:42.599 You're worth more than the cosmos to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:48.279 It speaks of immeasurable cost, immeasurable love. 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:49.720 There is no greater love than that. 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:54.919 And I know we spend our lives deceived by battles and by our own hearts and by doubting 00:23:54.919 --> 00:24:01.919 that, by feeling worthless, by doubting His promises, by misunderstanding His love and 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.920 the infinity of that. 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:14.600 But that is, the reality is, it's immeasurable love and we need to dive into that ocean of 00:24:14.600 --> 00:24:17.279 His love more and more and more. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:25.039 Maybe if you're not a Christian today, you're being troubled by the thought of life being 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:32.799 more than just something material, that you have a soul that if you don't look for salvation 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:37.720 and if you don't deal with your sins, you will forfeit your soul and eternal life and 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:41.920 be lost in eternal darkness. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:46.839 Then can I say there's no greater love that you can know than knowing the love of Jesus 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.119 who's done this for you. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:50.480 There's nothing greater. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.359 There's no greater exchange. 00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:59.279 There's nothing that speaks of your worth more than what Jesus Christ has done. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:04.719 Because when we are right with Christ and right with God, we have eternal life. 00:25:04.719 --> 00:25:09.679 So that even if we lose physical life, you think that losing physical life is the worst 00:25:09.679 --> 00:25:10.679 thing ever, don't you? 00:25:10.679 --> 00:25:11.799 And so do I. 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:17.679 So much of the time that we cling on to life, our instinct is to hold on to physical life 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:23.400 here and now and we think there can be nothing worse than losing our physical life. 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:30.160 But in Christ, our soul is bought back and is no longer forfeited and our soul goes to 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:37.320 be with Christ to live eternally reunited on that last great day with our body, a spiritual, 00:25:37.320 --> 00:25:45.600 renewed, refined, glorified body that will take us into the new heavens and the new earth. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:49.719 So there is something worse than losing our physical life. 00:25:49.719 --> 00:25:56.359 Hard though that is to understand and bear and that is losing and forfeiting our soul. 00:25:56.359 --> 00:26:02.799 So He knows there's only one answer and my plea for Christians is to remind yourselves 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:03.799 of that. 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:05.639 We don't graduate beyond it. 00:26:05.639 --> 00:26:09.079 We need to thank and praise Him for it and live in the light of that every day. 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:14.480 And if you're not a Christian, that you would consider this great exchange that happened 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:21.279 2,000 years ago that has transformed our lives and that we live for, that is recorded in 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:30.839 Scripture and that has given us life for our soul as well as our body. 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:35.920 So He knows there's only one answer and but He also knows that we struggle. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:38.319 He knows that we struggle. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:40.120 That's the great thing about the Bible. 00:26:40.120 --> 00:26:41.960 It's a words and all book. 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:51.120 He knows that we struggle and it never gives an unreal picture of humanity. 00:26:51.120 --> 00:26:53.039 Jonah struggled, didn't he? 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:55.720 He struggled with God's compassion. 00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.160 He probably did understand God but he didn't understand Himself well. 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:00.559 He was easily deceived. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:01.759 He believed the wrong things. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:03.400 He was self-absorbed. 00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:07.680 Jesus, God still had time for Him. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:11.640 God still gave Him object lessons to remind Him of His character. 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:14.680 And Simon Peter, he struggled, didn't he? 00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:19.680 He's just made that amazing confession about who you are the Christ, you're the Son of 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:20.680 the Living God. 00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:26.320 And in the very next paragraph, Jesus is calling Him Satan because when Jesus talked about 00:27:26.320 --> 00:27:31.880 going to the cross, Peter said, no, listen Jesus, that'll never happen to you. 00:27:31.880 --> 00:27:32.880 I've got you covered. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:34.400 I've got your back here. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.520 He didn't understand even though He made that grand confession. 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:42.480 So he felt bold enough to tell Jesus that Jesus is wrong. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:45.000 Isn't that so like us? 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.799 That we seem to be on the mountaintop spiritually as Christians at one moment and understanding 00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:50.799 so much. 00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:57.519 And then the next moment we just can't see it and we are telling Jesus He's all wrong. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:00.279 We're blessed and then we're kind of cursed. 00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:03.319 We're under discipline and we just don't get things. 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:10.200 We struggle and yet Jesus is so, as He was with Peter, so patient and so gracious and 00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:13.759 so merciful and so kind because He knows our struggle. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:15.240 He knows we're dust. 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:22.720 He knows that we're not God, even though we try to be God so much of the time. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:23.720 He knows we struggle. 00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:24.960 That's why He came. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:27.559 And that's why we need Him every single day. 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:32.159 And so with this I finish, He keeps it simple, doesn't He? 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.080 He always keeps it simple for us. 00:28:34.080 --> 00:28:37.200 He keeps it simple for Peter and He keeps it simple for us. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:43.840 He said to His disciples, if anyone would come after me, let them deny himself, take 00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:46.800 up his cross, follow me. 00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:48.320 That's what He says. 00:28:48.320 --> 00:28:50.360 He keeps it simple. 00:28:50.360 --> 00:28:52.080 Follow me into battle. 00:28:52.080 --> 00:28:55.560 That's what He's saying. 00:28:55.560 --> 00:28:57.080 Come after me. 00:28:57.080 --> 00:28:58.080 Follow me. 00:28:58.080 --> 00:29:01.960 That's our Christian calling. 00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:09.160 He's saying to us in the light of His finished work, the war is already won. 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:11.480 Just come with me into the battle. 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:12.480 The war is already won. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:13.480 I've won it for you. 00:29:13.480 --> 00:29:14.480 I've defeated death. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:16.519 I've paid the price for your sin. 00:29:16.519 --> 00:29:17.519 Just come into the battle. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:23.160 I'll give you all you need in this battle if you just come after me. 00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:24.160 If you just follow me. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:29.559 Now, if you've been a Christian for 110 years, that message doesn't change. 00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:32.159 He still says, follow me. 00:29:32.159 --> 00:29:39.240 If you are too sophisticated for that, then I'm saying you're a fool. 00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:43.399 Because often we feel too sophisticated and we want to move on. 00:29:43.399 --> 00:29:45.159 But He says, follow me. 00:29:45.159 --> 00:29:47.480 And He says, take up your cross. 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:50.159 That is our daily self denial. 00:29:50.159 --> 00:29:53.240 That's what He means by saying, taking up the cross. 00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:59.480 Get rid of our sinful, destructive self which says, all I need is food and drink. 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:01.680 All I need is a party. 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:07.000 All I need is good fun and a good salary and an easy life. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:12.640 And He says, don't forfeit your soul by believing that or don't endanger your soul by believing 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:13.640 that. 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:21.480 Deny the destructive, sinful, selfish realities and know your self worth in Jesus Christ. 00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:24.400 And know true self love in Jesus Christ. 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:26.079 There's nothing wrong with loving ourselves. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.879 God commands it by loving ourselves in the right way. 00:30:29.879 --> 00:30:34.960 With God being first and others being those we serve before we think of ourselves. 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:38.720 You are worth it to God. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.480 And God is worth it to you. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:49.319 I think that's a great reality we need to consider and a great truth to consider. 00:30:49.319 --> 00:30:50.480 We follow Him. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:51.960 We deny ourselves. 00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:52.960 Why? 00:30:52.960 --> 00:31:00.640 Because we are worth it to God and because God is worth it to us because of what He's 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:02.140 done. 00:31:02.140 --> 00:31:08.120 And others are worth it because they're made in God's image because of who they are and 00:31:08.120 --> 00:31:17.680 because we're called to love them and have the limitless capacity of grace to love ourselves 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:23.720 properly, to love God, to love others and to love ourselves properly. 00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:29.640 And that today really matters in a world of division and a world of hatred and a world 00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:33.160 of merciless identity politics. 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:35.000 Therein is true freedom. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:41.759 If we will deny ourselves, take up His cross and follow Jesus. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:42.759 Amen. 00:31:42.759 --> 00:31:49.920 Heavenly Father, we ask and pray that You would enable us to follow You, to serve You, 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:59.759 to remember the simplicity of Your message for the brain boxes, for the really clever 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:05.640 people, for the theologically astute, for the spiritually mature and for those who 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:09.839 are not blessed with some of these things, for those of us that are not blessed with 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:12.000 some of these things. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:19.880 Remind us that the gospel is a great leveler, that mercy is a great leveler, and that we 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:29.400 are to be those who deny our sinful selves, take up the cross and follow Jesus. 00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:31.119 May we do that today. 00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:36.920 Help us if we are tempted to run away from these realities, to remind ourselves of what 00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:37.920 Jesus is. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:43.080 The Spirit drive these truths from the Bible, His living word home today, that what would 00:32:43.080 --> 00:32:51.080 it gain anyone who is listening or anyone who belongs to St. Columbus or anyone else, 00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:56.720 what would it gain any person if they gain the whole cosmos and lose or forfeit their 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:04.640 soul by ignoring God and by ignoring Jesus, by turning away from Him and by saying, Jesus, 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:08.759 you got it wrong, I know better. 00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:13.320 May that not be what we do and we are tempted to do that Lord, forgive us when we are on 00:33:13.320 --> 00:33:21.640 a daily basis and give us that great sense of worth through the prism of the cross, through 00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:28.759 the eyes of Jesus and give us a desire to serve you because you are worth it. 00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:34.879 Not dragging our feet, not Lord God, forgive us when we do that, drag our feet and grumble 00:33:34.879 --> 00:33:40.640 and complain and follow you reluctantly like we are taking some horrible green medicine. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:48.920 But help us to recognize that to taste and see God is the most beautiful food and drink, 00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:52.279 the most glorious bread and wine. 00:33:52.279 --> 00:33:56.160 Help us we pray and forgive our sins in Jesus' name. 00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.759 Amen.